Cordova / PhoneGap

User Experience / User Interfaces

Input Masks: Violating User Expectations is an excellent article on what you should and shouldn’t do with regard to masking input fields on web pages — and it extends into apps as well. Nothing can raise my ire faster than an input field that does something unexpected with my input.

Sticky Headers describes how to do sticky headers right. I’m not a huge fan of these on web pages since they are often done incorrectly and interfere with the usability of the web page. But the linked example on this site seems to work pretty good. Via Smashing Magazine.

Space

Space is so cool. Take for example, Jupiter’s Magnetosphere, which Juno just entered. Wicked stuff, that. (And that we mere humans are actually capable of building things that do this!)

On a more serious note, this is worth a read (& watch): Rio hides the poor from Olympic visitors. I enjoy the Olympic coverage and the display of athletic prowess and all the various emotions that go along with doing something well and winning a medal for it. But I also know there’s a lot of problems that the Olympic coverage tends to gloss over or ignore entirely. Let’s not forget that what we see on TV is not the entire story.

Also, I try to keep religion out of this site’s blog because it shouldn’t matter with regard to app development. But every once in a while something will be so galling as to be impossible not to mention. You’ve got to read this account of a private Christian school in Alabama. If that doesn’t draw your ire, I don’t know what will. Education is so critically important to functioning in today and tomorrow’s society, and to be denied that and also be subject to horrifying living conditions and abuse is heart breaking.

Oh, it’s Independence Day in the USA on July 4, and it was Canada Day on July 1. Hopefully everyone in both countries has a great holiday weekend! Celebrate safely and responsibly!

Let’s never forget our history, and how the past has made our existence possible today. July 1 marked the 100-year anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme.

Regardless of your opinion of the result of the United Kingdom’s referendum (namely, to leave the European Union), the results of #brexit are definitely something to keep an eye on, even if you don’t have any direct interests in the UK. Given that the world economy lost something like $2 trillion in a couple of days simply from the shock of the result, the results of the entire process (which will take years) have far-reaching consequences for all of us. We just may not know what those consequences will be. Here’s hoping it won’t be too disastrous and that it will have good benefits, but it would be absurd to ignore what’s going over in the UK and the European Union.

These past few weeks have seen more than their fair share of terrorist attacks, including Orlando, Istanbul, and Bangladesh (and my thoughts go out to the victims and everyone affected). It’s sad to think that there are people who are willing to kill another individual and spread terror because one believes in a different god or is of a different race or nationality or because of who one loves. We are made stronger through diversity, so please, let’s all find a way to get along together! The world and all of us will be better for it.